"The
attempt of this
B-film
to be a convincing film noir never
materializes..."

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Nick (Alessandro Nivola) and Bryce (Josh Brolin) are
friends who
haven't seen each other since their college days. When
Bryce arrives in
Nick's hometown of Tropico, some place that could be
"Anywhere,"
U.S.A.,
Bryce shows Nick the beautiful ultra-modern posh house
where he is
house-sitting
rent free and where all he has to do is water the
plants. The two later
on meet in a bar and an attractive girl also enters,
and the drunken
Bryce
gets to know her as Kathy (Reese Witherspoon). The
next scene is of
Nick
receiving a frantic call from Bryce at 2 a.m. that he
should hurry over
to his place.

Upon arriving Nick learns from Bryce that the girl
accuses
him of
date rape. When Kathy tried to leave Bryce beats her
up, has her gagged
and bound in chains to a pool table downstairs in the
recreation room,
and finds while going through her purse that she is
underage. Bryce is
afraid that he will be accused of statutory rape, even
if it comes out
that she was willing. Bryce laments that his life is
ruined, that he
will
never get tenure in the college teaching job, and that
his career is
over.
He asks his friend Nick, "What should I do?"

When Nick is alone with the girl we learn that this
was a
setup and
that Kathy is Lissa, and that they planned to steal a
Lincoln note
valued
at some $200,000 from Bryces's rented house because
Nick is in deep
trouble
after he agreed to help some workplace friends out in
a setup robbery
that
backfired. She does it to help the one she fell in
love with. The film
flashes back four months earlier and the viewers are
fully apprised of
what led to this situation.

Nick came back to town to take care of his sick
father.
When his
father died, he shows no remorse and becomes bitterly
disappointed that
his father's promised inheritance has been seized by
the IRS for back
taxes
owed. Lissa is someone he meets while in a veterinary
clinic, who falls
for the good-looking guy and puts her trust in him.
Bryce, on the other
hand, is a spoiled rich kid who has a history of
ratting on friends,
and
is a constant whiner. The story revolves around these
three
uninteresting
characters.

The attempt of this B-film to be a convincing film
noir
never materializes,
as the film looks more like a sophomoric attempt to
imitate the genre
than
the real thing. I had no feelings for the slimy
characters.

In the dumbest scene, a violent drug dealer
(Carroll)
tortures those
who robbed his stash of cocaine. He later explains why
he is a
criminal,
as if he was giving a lesson in economics. The film's
attempt at humor
eluded me, despite its best laid plans.